AXA confirms 2020 targets amid management shake-up

FILE PHOTO: Logo of France's biggest insurer Axa is seen in front the compagny headquarter in Paris
Thomson Reuters
By Maya Nikolaeva

PARIS (Reuters) - French insurer AXA confirmed its key 2020 financial targets during an investor day on Tuesday, as it extended a management shake-up that saw the departure of several senior executives.

Chief Executive Thomas Buberl, at the helm of the insurer since 2016, aims to grow in areas such as health, protection and property and casualty insurance, to help offset falling yields faced by parts of its investment business.

AXA, which has ruled out major acquisitions, said it would dedicate 200 million euros ($234 million) for innovation, out of its 1 billion euros mergers and acquisitions (M&A) budget.

"AXA is well on track to achieve its Ambition 2020 targets, and is taking important steps towards making the group simpler for all our stakeholders, and to foster growth," AXA said in a statement.

AXA aims to increase earnings per share by 3 to 7 percent a year over the 2016-2020 period and have a cumulative cashflow of 24-27 billion euros over that timeframe, before the proceeds coming in from an initial public offering (IPO) of its combined U.S. life insurance and asset management unit, scheduled for second quarter of 2018.

It presented earlier on Monday a new plan to simplify its operating model with a new structure based on geographies, rather than business units.

The reshuffle saw the departures of those who have worked at the group for more than 15 years. Among those leaving were Gaëlle Olivier, head of AXA's global property and casualty business and Paul Evans, head of life, savings and health.